Deficit complicates marriage between Trump, GOP lawmakers
Top lawmakers like House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and No. 3 Senate Republican John Thune of South Dakota say the GOP's tax plans shouldn't add to the deficit.
The flip side involves longstanding promises by Capitol Hill Republicans to balance the budget by repealing the Affordable Care Act, sharply cutting social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and student loan subsidies.
Trump promises to replace the so-called "Obamacare" and assured voters during the campaign that he wouldn't cut Social Security and Medicare — and he's on record as saying that 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's choice of now-Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., "was the end of the campaign."
[...] their budget plans have kept Social Security, the Pentagon, veterans programs and interest payments immune from cuts, so they've doubled down on cuts to the Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled, along with cuts to domestic programs like education, farm subsidies, housing vouchers and scientific research.
Along the way, Obama and top Republicans sought modest cuts to the federal crop insurance program and the generous military pensions paid to veterans in their 40s and 50s — only to have to reverse course after bipartisan squealing from rank-and-file lawmakers.